1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to electrical connectors and especially to electrical connectors used to connect a plurality of wires, such as wires in an automotive harness or harnesses. This invention is more particularly related to the use of secondary or auxiliary locking members to prevent terminals from being dislodged from molded connector housings and to prevent disengagement of mating terminals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although it is important for electrical connectors in all applications to establish a reliable electrical termination that will not be disengaged under normal operating conditions, automotive applications tend to have more problems with failed terminations than many other applications. The failure of electrical connectors in automotive applications is not only due to the environment in which the connectors are used, but many problems have been traced to errors in assembling the electrical connectors and the harness in which they are employed. With the increased use of electronics in automotive applications these problems can be compounded simply because of the additional circuits and wires that must be joined by electrical connectors.
To overcome these problems, electrical connectors used in automotive applications have used secondary or redundant locking to prevent terminals from being disengaged from the molded housings in which multiple terminals are mounted. Terminal position assurance, which means that the electrical connector assemblies cannot be assembled if terminals are improperly positioned, has been used, and in many prior art connectors, secondary or redundant locks cannot be assembled unless the terminals are properly seated in the housings.
One inherent problem with secondary or redundant locking schemes is that they inevitably take up space. With the increasing number of wires and circuits that must be connected, space often becomes critical. Many connectors have a large number of terminals densely packed in a small space. It is also common to house terminals of different size in the same connector. For example, terminals for supplying electrical power to components in an automobile are commonly housed in the same connector with a large number of terminals connecting signal wires. Each terminal in connectors of this type must be held in position by a molded resilient latch engaging the terminal in its terminal cavity and a secondary or redundant locking member is used either to ensure that the resilient latch does not become disengaged or to independently hold the terminals in the connector. When other common problems, such as the tendency of mating terminals to stub during mating, the tendency of terminals and connector covers to become disengaged when the wires are jerked, and the need to insure that connectors can be assembled and mated in only one orientation must be solved by connector design, it becomes difficult to meet all of these requirements within a given space.